What exactly is this?
I have some idea. But why does using one emoticon mean you are threadshitting?
I suppose it doesn’t, necessarily. Do you have an example?
I don’t think it’s about the emoticon, it’s about the content. “Threadshitting” is basically pouring a bucket of cold water on a thread that others have been enjoying, and effectively derailing the thread. It’s different from “trainwreck” (see Beginner’s Glossary to Terms Used on the Straight Dope Message Boards.
For example, if people are having a good time discussing the joys of ice cream, someone who stops by with a quick comment such as “You’ll all be dead in a century, so why bother?” would be “threadshitting” – a mood-changing tangential drive-by kind of comment.
If anyone would care to try a better definition, I’ll be glad to add it to the aforementioned “Glossary.”
Ah. Thanks for the lead. In that case, the emoticon was (presumably) a commentary on the poster who started the thread and the thread content: it was therefore not just an emoticon, but a comment on the specific member and his particular obsession. That situation has been discussed before and need not be discussed here (wrong forum, among other things): it is jerkism for a poster to be a one-trick pony who ONLY posts about one particular subject (whether sex, politics, religion, or lasagna), but we have lots of posters who have their own obsessions on various topics.
To add to what **CKDH **said, I interpreted that response as saying, in essence, “Who gives a shit?” As the mod correctly pointed out, the proper behavior in that case is not to respond at all.
It can also be picking a tangental fight, knowing you’re derailing the topic of discussion, just so you can argue. Like bringing up declawing a cat in a thread talking about how cute young kittens are, or how really, pit bulls aren’t that dangerous in a thread talking about how the OP’s beloved little dog was attacked by a big dog, or even about how you think people should be free to end their lives if they so choose in thread in which the bereaved are lamenting a suicide. They are sort of on topic, but the reason the person is bringing them up is so they can argue about that particular hot button issue again.
See. No thread shitting.
you’re all gonna die in a cen…damnit! :smack:
Zabali, thanks. Anyone else want to try for a better definition than the one I offered, or improvement, and I’ll add it to that Glossary?
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=397693&
Post #7 is a perfect example.
What really bugs me about this kind of threadshitting is that he/she did it another thread and the same subject as well. Why go into a thread for the sole perpose of doing that.
IMHO that borders on trolling.
I would add intent to content, that’s all.
The whole question seems rather naive to me; as much as saying “How can a specific arrangement of an assortment picked from a possible twenty-six different letters, be offensive?”.
Trolls poo a lot though. 
How’s this for a definition? Threadshitting is belittling a topic and/or the people discussing it. It typically takes the form of a dismissive comment, like “Who cares?” or “This is stupid!” The implication is that discussion of such a topic is beneath that person, and should be beneath everybody else.
If you really do think that a discussion is inane or pointless, the appropriate thing to do is to not participate in it. Nobody is holding a gun to your head, forcing you to post in every single thread.
Excellent, Diceman, hit the nail squarely on the head. I have changed it a little (the urge to edit is one of the primal human instincts) and added to the Glossary. Many thanks!
I can’t remember offhand where I heard a definition for definition that went something along the lines of: a good definition includes everything that it means to include and nothing it does not.
As near as I can tell, your definition misses on both counts. Twit, I have been taken to task for asking questions that a precoccious eleven year old girl and the majority of dopers could easily answer. Despite the fact that some posters had taken the time to thoughtfully respond to my question, was it threadshitting (poopie_posting?) to point out that my question was sub par for the SDMB?
Half or more of the posts on this board are dismissive, belittling jabs at one poster or another! :rolleyes: M’Kay.
Obviously, the forum has a lot to do with the issue. If a thread in MPSIMS finds posters discussing the Queen’s tiara that’s a lot different than a GQ or a Pit thread discussing the same.
And, as C K Dexter Haven pointed out, the poster’s habits and past posts play an integral part in deciding whether or not a critique is spot on or uncalled for… not to mention the context of the thread, how many people are posting to it and how seriously they are taking it, how long the thread is and, ultimately, how much effort the potential crapsplatterer puts into their brownie barrage.
If every post that used the dismissive, M’Kay, constituted threadshitting, we’d be floating in feces.
Hmmm. Interesting point, SixSwords, but I think there’s a qualitative difference between “Your question is simple-minded and can be answered by looking in any dictionary” and “Your question is stupid and undeserving of any response.” However, I also think that thread-shitting is rare in forums like GQ. Perhaps we should add to the definition proposed, something about “alien to the mood of the thread” ?
The most recent string of examples of threadshitting that came to Moderators’ attention were in CS, in threads about the death of some celebrity or artist with people expressing a sense of loss, and then some one tosses in a comment like “Who cares?”
We’ve also had some threads of people building a story, post by post, and then someone posts, “So they all died.”
Those are, seems to me, very different from “Your question can be answered by any intelligent third-grader” or “Don’t expect us to do your homework for you.” I’m not sure what the diff is, but I guess I’m suggesting that it’s something about contrary to the tone or mood of the thread?
BTW, the Glossary isn’t intended to be a definitive dictionary; we’ve got major differences of opinion on what’s thread-shitting and what isn’t, what’s trainwrecking and what’s just tangential asides, etc. And, heaven knows, I wouldn’t even try to offer clear definition on the usage of “When come back, bring pie.”